


The Photography Club

by akihito_kanburrito



Category: Yandere Simulator (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Betrayal, Drama, Emotional Hurt, Friendship, Gen, High School, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Murder-Suicide, Mystery, Psychological Drama, Tragedy/Comedy, Yandere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6468436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akihito_kanburrito/pseuds/akihito_kanburrito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a distinct clicking noise and a bright flash filled the room.</p><p>"Welcome to the Photography Club!"</p><p>-</p><p>(Written after the "Personalities and Photography" video. All of the characters in the Photography Club are mine.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There was a distinct clicking noise and a bright flash filled the room.

"Welcome to the Photography Club!"

-

"Psst! Hey, Ryo, hey!" Weary eyes assessed their surroundings, blinking drowsily in an attempt to clear away the haziness of sleep. As bright lights asserted themselves into the view of the aforementioned eyes, a teenage boy, owner of the once again aforementioned eyes, emitted a noise caught somewhere between an average noise of discomfort and a girlish scream.

"Shizuka-kun, is there something that you would like to share with the class? You sounded rather desperate!" The aforementioned boy, owner of the aforementioned eyes, felt a deep red flush crawling up his neck, before settling at his previously pale cheeks. Whilst the blush had been making its way to his face, a snicker had travelled throughout the room, from person to person. It was at that point that the boy noticed that he had been stuttering and gawking foolishly at his teacher's face for a good ten seconds, whilst she waited for his reply.

 _'Ok, Ryota, you've got this! Make it something short and snappy, but still smart; something to make everyone laugh_ with _you instead of_ at _you. Right, here we go! This is your big chance, Ryota, go out there and show them what you've go-'_

"N-No, Shiori-sensei! I'm sorry, Shiori-sensei! It won't happen again, Shiori-sensei!" 

 _'You_ idiot! _What were you thinking?!'_

Realising that his response was neither short, snappy, nor smart in the slightest, Ryota proceeded to sink into his chair, grit his teeth in embarrassment, and turn an even darker shade of crimson. He caught the voice of a girl from the Art Club, who was sat several seats behind him, and made the mistake of listening to her voicing the thought that she could use the current colour of his ears in the painting that she was working on. At that, Ryota sunk further into his seat, engulfed in a cloud of shame. It was only the third period of the day, Geography class, and he had already managed to embarrass himself. As the class giggled one final time and the teacher began to turn back to the blackboard, Ryota managed to marginally calm himself. 

That was until, of course, the inevitable happened. He had been so stupid to let himself forget.

"Shizuka-kun, please see me after class," Only horror was displayed upon the young boy's face then. The boy beside him, his friend, Minato, took a sharp intake of breath and turned to glance pityingly in Ryota's direction. Shiori-sensei continued to write questions on the blackboard, and the students hastily put their heads down to scribble the answers, attempting to match the quick pace in which their teacher was able to write the questions. Naturally, that was impossible.

As he finished jotting down his last answer, Ryota felt a light tap on his shoulder. A girl with curled green hair tied into twintails passed him a folded piece of paper and smiled warmly. Although he was rather confused, Ryota grinned back at her kindly and took the paper. After taking a few seconds to check that Shiori-sensei's gaze wasn't presently on him, the boy unfolded the notepaper and quickly scanned the words written on it.

_You were sleeping through most of the important stuff this lesson, and you seem pretty lost. Would you like me to wait for you after class and give you my notes since it's break time next? I'd be glad to - you seem like a nice guy ^-^_

_Koharu Hinata_

Ryota felt his body relax after reading the note. He  _had_  been lost, and he was somewhat grateful that this girl had noticed. She was nice; he'd talked to her in passing, and she seemed to give off an air of positivity. He kept the note held in his hands, but turned to look at the girl over his shoulder, nodding with a smile.

"That'd be really great, thank you, Koharu-san!" She beamed at his response, and then turned her attention back to the front of the classroom. At that very moment, the school bell rang, and Shiori-sensei dismissed them, although she also reminded Ryota to stay behind. Koharu giggled at his despair-filled sigh, helping him to pack up his bag after sorting her own. "Oh! It's fine, you don't have to do that!" She brushed him off with a wave of her hand and told him to hurry and see the teacher, as they then would have more time to go over their notes during break time. Following her order, Ryota strode to the front of the classroom and waited for Shiori-sensei to glance up at him.

"Ah, Shizuka-kun, there you are!" He only nodded tentatively in response. Noticing his apprehensive expression, she let out a laugh with her next sentence. "Don't worry, don't worry - you're not in trouble or anything!" The boy let out a sigh of relief, and a smile grew on his features. "I just wanted to know if you were doing alright, since I've heard your club leader can be a bit of a... How do I put this? Slavedriver?" Ryota chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head with his right hand.

"You needn't worry, sensei, Natsuki's not quite so bad as the rumours suggest. She's just very enthusiastic, that's all!" The teacher nodded and, after some more general discussion and a minor warning about sleeping in class, Ryota was free! He slid the door open gleefully and walked with a slight skip in his step. Just outside the door, he spotted Koharu and grinned at her.

"Sorry to make you wait, Koharu-san! Would you like to go to rooftop, where it won't be quite so noisy right now?" Picking up the bags that were previously leaning against her calf, Koharu nodded cheerfully and held Ryota's bag out to him. He took it, and they started their journey up the many steps to the rooftop. They chatted amiably to each other all the while, only stopping to scout out a bench that wasn't surrounded by people.

"Yay, I found one! Quick, here!" Koharu clasped Ryota's pale hand with her own, causing the boy to blush madly. She ran quickly, bright hair flying behind her, and Ryota followed, weaving through chains of lively students. The pair reached a clearing and the bench that Koharu had spotted. She took her seat, immediately taking out her pencil case and Geography books. After regaining his breath, Ryota did the same. "Ok, I'm all set, how about you?" Ryota nodded to confirm that he was ready to start their studying. Koharu shuffled along the bench until she was right next to Ryota, causing his now-regular blush to reappear. "Great! Let's get started!"

They began to look through Koharu's notes from the lesson, Koharu talking him through each piece of information. Her notes were all colour-coded and in neat, print handwriting, and so, along with her running commentary, Ryota could understand everything with ease. Jokes were shared between the two as they worked, only coming to a halt when the school bell rang to signal the beginning of fourth period, Chemistry for Ryota. To both of their surprise, they sighed heavily in dismay when the realisation that they had to pack away hit them both simultaneously.

"Uh, Koharu-san, thank you so much for helping me! I really appreciate it!" Ryota bowed slightly and smiled at the green-haired girl. 

"It's not a problem at all; I had fun! If you're ever struggling again, you can come to me!" Koharu chirped, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. With a cheerful wave, she skipped off to her next lesson, quickly getting lost in the crowd.

"Ryo-kun, what are you doing just standing there?! You know how strict our teacher gets if we're late for Chemistry! Come on, if we sprint then we can make it with a little time to spare!" A boy sporting a pair of thin-framed glasses with circular lenses jogged towards Ryota, brushing his oddly-styled hair out of his eyes as he turned to face him. Ryota nodded determinedly and they both set off running at their highest speeds.

"Yeah, we've got this, Yusei-kun!"

The boys reached their Chemistry classroom with only mere seconds to spare, due to an incident involving Yusei not looking where he was going and, in turn, causing a game of human dominoes to play out. After that, the lessons sped by and lunch time quickly came around. Ryota and Yusei made their way to the cafeteria, having not spotted any of their other friends. It wasn't a hard task for either of the pair to wolf down their lunches, and they were both done in under ten minutes. Like every day, they then both began to make their way up the stairs and down a few corridors before looking up at the sign above the door they were about to go through.

_The Photography Club_

"Ryota! Yusei!" Just as Yusei was about to open the door for the both of them, a short girl with long, voluminous purple hair came racing towards them, eyes shining. 

"Uh, hey Natsuki! Sorry I wasn't here at bre-"

"I got a ton of pictures of the moon last night - it was  _amazing!_ Did you see it? Ryota, you'd better have done, since I asked you to stay up with me," As she chatted away, Natsuki opened the door, revealing Minato and another girl with short, perfectly bobbed, coral-coloured hair. The girl was holding her camera so that Minato could see the screen. She flashed a large, toothy smile when the small group entered, moving away from Minato so that she could go and talk to them.

"Hey, Yu-kun!" She picked up Yusei's fist and bumped it against her own. Yusei simply nudged his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. The girl laughed for a moment, before turning to Ryota and gasping melodramatically. "Ryo-kun, you're not dead! Honestly, that was my first assumption when you turned into a  _total traitor_ and didn't come here at break time. Where were you, though?" She folded her arms and tilted her head inquisitively. Natsuki also gasped, but from genuine surprise.

"That's right, you weren't here at break!"

"Well, yes, that's kind of what I was trying to sa-"

"Whatever were you doing, Ryota?" Natsuki lifted a hand to cover her heart as she gazed at him with a melancholy expression. "I was so lonely!" Ryota shifted his eyes to look away from her and instead to his left. 

"You know, somehow I doubt that," His voice was too low for Natsuki to hear, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, since she was immediately distracted by running over to Minato and greeting him enthusiastically. The girl with the bobbed hair was standing slightly behind and to the left of Ryota, leaning on the wall casually. She cleared her throat, causing Ryota to turn and face her.

"Oh hey, Nanami-san! I was wondering where you'd gotten to!" Nanami's expression turned sly, an evil grin making its way onto her face.

"So she asked you to stay up with her, hey Ryo-kun?" Ryota promptly blushed, yet again, and began stuttering and stumbling over his words -  _yet again._

"B- _By text!"_ Nanami's entire body shook as she howled with laughter at his expression, drawing the attention of the rest of the people in the room.

"Hmm?" Natsuki puffed out her cheeks in confusion as to why Nanami was laughing so much, and why Ryota had such red cheeks. "Nanacchi, are you alright? You seem a little short of breath!" Minato chuckled from his seat behind Natsuki, assuring the small girl that her friend was fine. He rose, making his way over to the pair with an amused smile resting on his face.

"Hey, Ryo, you should probably calm your face before Suki-chan starts worrying about your health, too," Ryota promptly slapped his hands over his cheeks and attempted to cool his brain. Meanwhile Nanami rolled on the floor, tears of laughter running down her face. After a few more moments of Minato giggling along with her, Ryota continuously slapping himself in the face and Yusei remaining stoic, pushing his large glasses up his nose and confidently stating,

"I do not know what is happening," - much to the amusement of the others, Nanami stopped laughing, wiping her tears away and standing up.

"Do you need some help there, Nana-san? You may be a little wobbly," Minato reached out his arms for Nanami to hold onto, but she brushed them away with her hand then leaned up close to his face, arms folded and a dark aura surrounding her.

"How come Natsu gets the cute little  _'-chan'_ and I just get _'-san,'_ hey?! What's up with that,  _Nakahara?!"_ She emphasised his last name, making him laugh nervously.

"Well, Nana-san, I think it's just moments like this that prove you are not really a fit for the whole  _'-chan'_ thing. Really,  _'-san'_ is lovely too, so you shouldn't be upse-" He was cut off by a karate chop to the side of his head. Natsuki gasped whilst Ryota hissed in pain as though he were feeling it himself. Yusei spoke and pushed up his glasses again, but remained monotone despite Nanami's glares.

"I do not think that your comment improved the situation, Minato-san," He was also struck by the side of Nanami's hand, and his signature glasses slipped off his face and onto the floor beside him. "It appears that mine did not, either, and now I cannot see," 

Natsuki tentatively crouch-walked over to where his glasses were, passing them to him whilst also covering her head with her free hand to avoid Nanami's wrath.

"Um, are you ok there, Minato?" She remained in her crouched position, peering past Nanami's legs over to where Minato was now lay on the floor, clutching his head.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head, Suki-chan, for I am  _splendid,"_

"Ok,  _so now she's pretty too?!"_ Minato groaned in despair, attempting to guard his face with his forearms as Nanami made her way over to him. Ryota quickly intercepted her path, stretching out his arms and waving them about.

"I-I didn't answer your question, Nanami-sa- uh, Nanami-chan!" He grimaced, mentally preparing himself for a hit. However, when he opened the eyes that he was actually unaware were squeezed shut, he saw Nanami stood there, practically glowing. Realising that he was safe for the moment, Ryota decided to keep talking. "I, uh, I'd gotten a little confused in class, so Koharu-san was helping me during break, and the club just kind of slipped my mind, I guess," He rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand.

"Koharu-san? As in girl? As in you were flirting with another girl besides me? I feel betrayed, Ryo-kun!"

"N-Not flirting! And why would I ever flirt with you?" Nanami ignored Ryota's foolish question and continued.

"I do suppose that you could be forgiven, though, considering that you acknowledged the fact that I am officially crowned 'The Cutest Being That Has Ever Inhabited This Earth-' "

"Well, I didn't say  _that..."_ As the glare began to reinstate itself onto Nanami's face, Ryota swiftly changed subject. "Natsuki, here are the photos you wanted me to take. I hope you like them, I kinda stayed up all night, heh," Ryota offered a weak smile and some photos, which he had managed to print before school began, towards Natsuki. She rose from her crouch and trotted over, purple hair bobbing along with her. She silently took them from his hand and analysed each one carefully. Becoming anxious from her uncharacteristic tranquillity, Ryota began speaking again. "Some of them got kind of blurred, I'm afraid, since I was tired and messed up the focus, then I was in a rush printing them this morning, so-"

"They're beautiful,"

"Huh?" Natsuki tilted her face up to look Ryota straight in the eyes. Her own were alight with intensity.

"These are beautiful photographs, Ryota,"

"O-Oh. Th-Thank you, Natsuki," A noise came from Nanami's direction, breaking the moment.

"Psh,  _'all night'_ that's absolute nonsense, Ryo-kun, and you know it! You even  _told_ me that you were up writing that essay for Japanese class today!"

"Nanami _-san!"_

"What about my  _'-chan,'_ you little-"

"Nanacchi, don't say bad words!" Natsuki grabbed Nanami and wrapped herself around her friend's body like a koala, using both hands to tightly cover her mouth. Minato smiled warmly and praised Natsuki for the defence technique, before holding on to her waist and gently dragging her off of Nanami, whose face had gone a bright scarlet from lack of oxygen. It was then that the end-of-lunch bell rung and the group packed up their cameras, realising yet again that they hadn't gotten anything done. Nanami was the first to walk out calling to Natsuki and Minato to hurry up so that they could get to their English class. After they'd left, it was just Ryota and Yusei, who appeared to be having trouble getting his camera back into his bag.

"Yusei-kun, are you alright there?" Yusei removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose and wiped them with the cuff of his shirt before replying.

"I still cannot see,"

"But you have your glasses back!"

"These are long-sighted lenses,"

"And?!"

"It appears that I am short-sighted," Ryota laughed disbelievingly at the words of his strange friend, deciding to pack away both of their cameras and leave for their Gym class. The only lesson that they all had together that day was Japanese, last lesson.

Gym class was difficult for the both of them - Yusei especially because, added to his physically unfit condition, he, of course, couldn't see a thing clearly. They struggled through the rest of the day until their last class. Once Ryota got through the door, he saw Natsuki in the centre of the row that they had somewhat reserved at the start of the year.  Although she spent most of her time in the Photography Club room,  she was friendly and well-liked by almost everyone that she met, so she'd managed to negotiate with people, hence how the group were all able to sit next to each other. On her right sat Minato, who was laughing at something she'd said, whilst Nanami sat on her left, apparently trying out some weird form of voodoo. Yusei and Ryota took their seats, greeting the rest of the group, and the lesson began as the teacher entered the room, clapping her hands for silence.

Within the lesson, Ryota drifted between doing the set work and daydreaming. Yusei stared blankly at his textbook, still unable to see, and Nanami fervently took notes; she payed extra attention in language-related classes, since she wanted to travel the world. Minato spent most of his time helping Natsuki, who was puzzled by all of her lessons beside ones in which she got to be creative, but still he managed to get the work done himself without trouble.

The class ended without upset, and the group of friends made their way out of the room and down to their lockers. Natsuki opened hers to find notes from people she knew from all of her lessons, as always, since everybody knew how she struggled, and so gave her their notes from class.

"Everyone's so nice! Minato, will you come round to my house again to talk me through all of it?"

"Well, of course," There was a note that was out of the ordinary, though, and Minato quickly snatched it from the ground where it had fallen before Natsuki even saw it. Quickly glancing over the envelope, he noticed a heart-shaped sticker holding it closed, which immediately alerted him. Minato ripped the envelope open, reading through it immediately.

_'Dear Kawaguchi-san,'_

'Hmm... Using her last name as well as honourifics. I suppose this isn't so bad,' Minato thought before continuing with the letter.

_'I've only seen you in our Art lessons, but you seem really nice and your paintings are amazing! I've seen the way you make friends with practically everyone, and I really admire that, so I would like to take you out to a nice café near the school that I think you would like,'_

'Ok, well he seems nice. I wonder who he is...'

At the end of the letter, printed in large, clear letters was the name  _'Ueda Takeshi'._

'Takeshi, hmm? I'm sure I've heard that name before, but I've forgotten where I know it fro-' Minato gasped as realisation struck him, alerting Nanami and Ryota, who were by his side. Natsuki was still too busy reading through the other notes.

"What's up with you? Minato, you there?" Nanami waved her hand in front of Minato's face, causing him to come back to Earth and speak.

"Ueda Takeshi," His voice was unusually monotone, puzzling his two friends.

"Uh, yeah, I know of him. The one with the whole 'juvenile delinquent with a kind heart' thing, ri- Minato, what are you doing?!" The sight of his usually calm friend taking out scissors and furiously slicing the paper into pieces made Ryota cut his sentence off half way.

"How dare this low-life scum try to taint the tiny, precious Suki-chan!" Minato began stomping angrily on the cut-up bits of paper. "Oh, the nerve! If I ever see him, he shall surely not hear the end of this! What does he think he's playing at?! Everybody knows that dear Suki-chan is innocent and far too kind-hearted for her own good!  _How digusting!"_ With one final tread on the paper, Minato smoothed down his shirt and straightened his posture. He turned towards Natsuki with a warm smile, picking up the remnants of the notes from her classes and offering his hand to her. "Let's be off to your house then, Suki-chan!" Natsuki nodded enthusiastically, and they walked together through the school gates after calling out farewells to their friends.

"Somehow I don't suspect that he heard the 'kind heart' bit," Ryota giggled slightly as he spoke to Nanami. She shrugged helplessly in reply.

"Doesn't really matter if he did; Minato's like Natsu's older brother, and any guy who tries to go out with her has  _him_ to answer to," Nanami smirked, stepping away from Ryota slightly to seek out Yusei. Just as she spotted him, he walked straight into his locker, which, in turn, caused a small crack in the right lens of his glasses. "Ah, that won't be good - the guy's legally blind without those things,"

"Are you serious?" Ryota let out a note of laughter. "He's legally blind  _with_ those things!" The pair chuckled at their friend's misfortune, took one of his shoulders each and proceeded to walk down the path to the school gates. As they did so, Nanami frowned at the sight to her left. A girl with black hair pulled into a ponytail peering around one of the cherry blossom trees, her back facing Nanami so that she couldn't see her face. She appeared to be watching a boy, who had slightly messy black hair, charcoal eyes and a pale skin tone. He was talking to Kokona Haruka, a girl that Nanami recalled to be good friends with Natsuki. It appeared that she had dropped her books, and that he was helping her.

'But what's so interesting about that?' Nanami pondered, not realising that she had stopped walking so that she could observe the peculiar scene unfolding. There were many things that Nanami didn't understand about the situation, but the main one was why this strange girl, when she turned around, looked so... Enraged. Her teeth were bared, dark eyes flashing with unfiltered anger. Ryota, who had also been watching what was happening, unknown to Nanami, made an abrupt noise of surprise, subconsciously tightening his grip on Yusei's shoulder.

"T-Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed, right?" Ryota murmured anxiously. Nanami gulped and nodded slowly. The look on that girl's face was worse than any grotesque thing that she'd seen in her favourite horror movies. That was acting.  _This_ was real.

"Well, I still cannot see," Yusei mumbled, unaware of what was happening, but able to feel the tension radiating from his two friends. They both laughed at his comment, albeit a little uncomfortably, and tore their eyes away from the girl.

"Don't worry about it, Yu-kun, we'll get you home safely!" Nanami chirped, trying, and failing, not to let the anxiety weave its way into her voice. It was always easy to notice when she was nervous, since she ended up sounding like Natsuki before she took exams.

And so, they left the school that day, dismissing the scene as just another thing they couldn't understand about people. However, that moment could have been used to prevent the disasters that haunted the school, and the students who attended it, for the rest of their lives.

 


	2. Two; A New Member

Natsuki Kawaguchi skipped cheerfully down the stairs leading to the lower floor of her house. She had slept well the night before, due to her lack of worry about the homework she had received. Minato had spent hours helping her, but never complained; not even once. It was like he genuinely enjoyed talking through each question, and his dark eyes would sparkle with happiness whenever Natsuki managed to get the correct answer. All of the completed homework was stored safely in Natsuki's school bag so that she wouldn't forget to hand it in that day. The bag lay beside her front door, leaning slightly against the umbrella stand. 

With a serene smile on her face, Natsuki twirled into her kitchen, tapping the power button on the small, cream-coloured radio that sat on the worktop. Jaunty pop music soon filled the room, causing Natsuki to grin and dance around, singing along when she knew the lyrics. There was nobody there to stop her, since her father was already at work and she was an only child. 

It was just at the chorus of one of her favourite songs when she tripped over her own feet, squealing and spilling the contents of the cereal box she had been holding all over the floor. For a few seconds, she just lay there, motionless, before letting out a long groan of despair. She tipped up her head and surveyed the room, noticing that the small morsels of food had reached literally every nook and cranny that the kitchen had. A sigh of defeat left her mouth before she could stop it, and she frowned,  realising that she not only had to clean all of the mess up, but also that she would have no time for any breakfast left when she had finished.

Shaking off her negative thoughts, she picked herself up, brushing down her skirt and doing a hasty search of her hair. After she was satisfied that she would not be turning up to school with some form of cereal headband, Natsuki fetched a dustpan and brush, crouching down to sweep everything up. Peppy tunes were still floating throughout the room, soon restoring the smile on the small girl's face as she began to sing along. About fifteen minutes later, the room was cleared of any evidence of her disaster, and Natsuki's positive mood had fully returned. She returned the dustpan and brush to their place in the cupboard under the stairs and then skipped back into the kitchen to make herself a glass of water. As she was about to reach for a glass, Natsuki saw the time on the clock. Immediately, panic shot through her system.

"Gah! How do I always manage to be late?" The small girl stood frozen in the middle of the room, one hand stretched towards the cupboard where the glasses were kept. "What do I do, what do I do? Hmm, what would Minato say?" Natsuki brought her outstretched arm towards her and crossed it against her chest, poking one of her fingers on the hand of her other arm into her chin whilst she thought. "Aha, got it!" She stretched both arms above her head in victory, beaming brightly. "He would say that 'hydration is important,' so water before school!" Natsuki promptly hopped over to the cupboard and got a glass, dancing over to the fridge and reaching inside for the cold jug of water, and pouring it into the glass. She gulped down the water, shaking her head wildly after she finished. "Cold!" She yelped. 

After placing the glass by the sink to wash after she returned from school, Natsuki ran to her front door, grabbing her school bag before she left. She hastily locked the door and shoved the key underneath the 'Welcome!' mat. Just as she turned around, Natsuki saw Minato crouched on the outside of her gate, tickling the chin of a dark grey cat. It was purring in delight, lifting its head so that it was looking straight at Minato for a second, but then swiftly turned away. Minato giggled, raising from his position into standing. He turned to see Natsuki, who grinned as soon as they made eye contact, lifting herself up onto her tip-toes and waving from her place at the door.

"Ah, Suki-chan! I didn't see you there!" Minato flashed a quick smile before pushing the gate open for his purple-haired friend. Natsuki hugged onto his waist tightly, by way of greeting, then moved so that she was on his left. They began walking, Natsuki taking a few hurried steps for each of Minato's long strides.

"Thanks for waiting for me Minato! I'd have thought you'd get bored just standing there." Natsuki swung her bag over her shoulder, causing a part of her vibrant hair to fly into the face of the taller boy, which he just laughed off.

"Of course not, Suki-chan, I always wait for you! Besides, I'd be much more bored walking to school by myself," Minato spoke, offering Natsuki an affectionate smile as he did so. "So did you manage to finish reading that light novel I lent you? I know you wanted to take a full leap into reading proper novels, but I'm aware that you tend the love the pictures more than the actual book, so I thought that a light novel would be a little easier on you," Minato questioned. Since Nanami was more into non-fiction books and Yusei and Ryota wouldn't touch a book with a ten foot pole, Natsuki was the only one that Minato could really enthuse with when it came to his favourite fantasy and, as much as he hated to admit it, romance stories.

"I did! It was amazing, especially the part where Manami went down to the lake after her argument with Saki and Akira was just sat there playing his violin! It was so sad when Saki's mother was in hospital though; I'm so glad she survived, because I was already crying by that point!" Natsuki's face changed expression every few words, to which Minato gave an amused smile. The older boy patted Natsuki's purple hair, chuckling quietly.

"You shouldn't cry, Suki-chan; I don't like it when you cry. In fact, nobody does," Minato's lips curved upwards slightly, glancing over at the smaller girl softly. As Natsuki opened her mouth to reply, the pair turned into the path leading to their school. The school bell rang harshly at the same time as they were jumped on by a human form with short, strawberry-blonde hair and long, thin legs. Natsuki squealed and almost fell to the floor at the sudden weight, but was caught by Minato just in time. The soft-mannered boy brushed his inky blue hair away from his eyes before facing the mystery form. There in front of him stood Nanami Hayashi, a close friend of both him and Natsuki since childhood. Her hands were on her hips, a large grin showcasing perfect teeth. A high-spirited saxophone playing a jazzy tune could be heard bursting from the headphones that were hung around the girl's neck. 

"Hey, where've you guys been? I've been waiting since, like, the Stone Age," Nanami questioned, swiftly strolling behind her two friends and pushing them along gently, fingertips pressing into both of their backs. "I was waiting with Yu-kun, but he had to run off to class; apparently he's got a  _super_ strict teacher - you should've seen the way he just  _ran!"_  Natsuki and Minato giggled, both trying to imagine their dreadfully unathletic friend actually  _running._  

"Sorry, Nanacchi, it's my fault that we were late. There was cereal, and then there was a spillage and... Yeah..." Natsuki trailed off sheepishly, but Nanami just jokingly rolled her eyes. As they reached their shoe lockers, they hastily changed from their outdoor shoes to their indoor shoes before setting off down the corridors of the school.

"Ah, Natsu, what  _am_ I going to do with you?" The coral-haired girl sniggered, pushing Minato away lightly. He stumbled a little before swivelling round to face the two girls. "You've got Chemistry class now - all on your own-eo!" Nanami stuck out her tongue at the taller boy who only sighed in response.

"I'll be off then!" Minato raised a hand in farewell, proceeding to walk hastily down the corridor. Natsuki then skipped into her classroom with Nanami strolling behind, pulling out her smartphone to pause the music she was playing and putting both the phone and headphones into her bag. The two girls took their seats; Nanami at the front, nearest to the door, and Natsuki in the very centre. Soon after the class was settled, the teacher entered the room, setting her binder and pens down on her desk before walking to the middle of the blackboard.

"Okay class, today we will be learning about..." Was all that Natsuki heard. Her eyes could see every equation that the teacher wrote on the board, but, in the end, it all just slurred together into unintelligible white scribbles. The small girl rested her face on her left hand and glumly let out a quiet sigh. Her eyes quickly found Nanami's hair across the room. Nanami's head was bowed, coral hair falling forward slightly, though it wasn't long enough to cause any obscurities in the girl's vision.

As though she could sense eyes on her, Nanami lifted her head and her gaze immediately locked onto Natsuki's. She quickly turned her head back to her desk and scrawled something in her notebook, ripping out the page - the noise thankfully being covered by the low chatter in the room - and held it up so that Natsuki could see.

_'Don't worry, I'm already taking extra notes for you'_

Nanami grinned and made a peace sign, causing Natsuki to giggle softly and mouth a 'thank you' to express her gratitude. It did bother Natsuki that she was just so  _inept_ when it came to classes like these, but she'd just come to accept it. People were nice enough to help her out, so it didn't affect her grades too much anyway.

A commotion from the desk next to Nanami's brought Natsuki's attention back to the room. The boy next to Nanami was swinging on his chair, grinning cheekily at her.

"Hmm, you've got notes for Kawaguchi? What about me, hey? Don't I get any help?" He was immediately shot down with a glare sharper than a dozen knives from Nanami, wobbling on his chair and falling off of it after getting hit around the head by her. Natsuki gasped, hands flying to cover her mouth, before she made eye contact with Nanami and both girls burst into laughter. The teacher scolded the boy for being careless, and the person at the desk to his right helped him back into his seat.

After that, the lesson flew by, with Natsuki spending most of it sketching flowers in the back of her notebook. There was something about nature, plants in particular, that the petite girl just found captivating. The way that it could be the source of the greatest beauty, but also the greatest danger. In her Science classes, she had studied endlessly about global warming and natural disasters, and that was a time when she had gotten her first A on an essay. Even just remembering that brought warmth into the girl's heart, and she smiled sincerely without noticing.

Suddenly, the bell rung, snapping Natsuki out of her thoughts. Nanami was by her side in less than a minute, packing up Natsuki's equipment for her.

"Nanacchi, you don't have to do that!" Natsuki put her hands out to stop her friend so that she could do it for herself, but Nanami slapped her hands away immediately.

"No, no, you take forever to pack up, and we have English next - you  _know_ how much I love English!" Nanami insisted, scooping up the last thing on Natsuki's desk; her notebook, covered in flowers. She giggled at the drawings, nose scrumpling as she did so. "Cute flowers, Natsu." Natsuki only beamed in response. When Nanami was finished packing up, she lifted Natsuki's bag in victory. "English time!" She cheered, gaining strange looks from her classmates around the room. In retaliation, Nanami simply stuck out her tongue and strode confidently out of the classroom. Natsuki skipped cheerfully behind her, taking her bag off of Nanami's arm once she had caught up with her.

When the girls reached their English class, only three students and the teacher were present. Natsuki flashed a joyful smile the teacher's way as she walked to her desk, only to receive the sight of the older woman attempting to wearily curve her lips upward in return. The young girl frowned and tapped the shoulder of a male classmate close to her. The boy looked up in surprise, his eyes widening when he realised who had touched him - he seemed frightened, almost. Natsuki was shocked for a second before taking a moment to analyse the features of the boy.

Chojo Tekina. Occult Club member. Loner. Coy when asked about his right eye.

Natsuki took a few moments to deliberate on how to speak to him, cautiously thinking through each of his traits. When she had decided on how to act, Natsuki took a step back so that they weren't in such close proximity and bowed her head slightly. 

"Hi, Chojo-kun," Natsuki spoke, careful to keep her tone soft so as not to both frighten the boy or alert the teacher. "Do you have any idea of what may be wrong with Rino-sensei? She seems a little upset." Chojo stole a glance at the brown-haired woman, stood nervously at the front of the classroom. His eyebrows furrowed in mild concern before he turned back to Natsuki, shaking his head.

"I-I think she's just tired," Chojo stuttered slightly, obviously not used to talking much outside of his club. In a way, it reminded Natsuki of when Yusei had first joined the Photography Club, but through a year of Natsuki's unrivalled friendliness, Minato's drastic mood swings and Nanami's constant teasing, he had changed rather a lot, although his quiet nature still remained.

Breaking out of her train of thought, Natsuki nodded gratefully at Chojo. "Thank you for your time!" She chirped, walking to where Rino-sensei was situated.

"Oh! Hello, Kawaguchi-san, is there a-anything you need help with, um, at all?" The woman stuttered out after noticing Natsuki's presence. In turn, Natsuki folded her hands behind her back, bowed, straightened and grinned widely.

"Why, Rino-sensei, that's just what I was about to ask you!" The girl exclaimed, stunning the teacher with her enthusiasm. "I noticed you didn't seem to be feeling well, so I wanted to see if there was anything I could help out with." Rino-sensei smiled weakly in appreciation, holding out a cardboard box of English novels towards Natsuki.

"If you could bring this round to all the other English classrooms and give them all ten books each then that would be a great help, thank you." Natsuki gladly reached out for the box, smiling wider with the knowledge that she was of use.

"No problem, Ri-  _Augh!"_ Just as Natsuki took the box of novels, she fell to the ground, overwhelmed by the weight. Only a few seconds after her fall, the purple-haired girl could hear Nanami's loud cackle from a few desks away.

"Only you, Natsu,  _only you!"_ Nanami's words tumbled out between laughter. She was bent over, holding her stomach as she shook with mirth. Meanwhile, Natsuki just sighed despairingly for the second time that day, picking herself off the floor and brushing dust off her skirt. The teacher was immediately by her side, apologising profusely and checking Natsuki's hands for any signs of injury. 

"No, no, Sensei, it's nothing major, honestly, I'm fine!" As the small girl waved her hands around, flustered, Nanami's laughter quietened.

"Here, Natsu, I'll help out with that," She sauntered to the space where Natsuki and Rino-sensei were stood, taking slightly less than half the books and placing them in a large, empty container before handing the container to Natsuki, taking the cardboard box into her own arms. Natsuki laughed sheepishly, lifting the container and walking hurriedly out of the room, holding the door open with her foot so that Nanami didn't have to do any precarious manoeuvres.

Once they were in the corridor, the girls decided to take one side each, since they had equal amounts of books. Nanami set off on the right side rooms and Natsuki took the left side. When they reached the end, Natsuki turned to her friend with a worried expression on her face.

"Nanacchi, I only have two books left but I still have one more room to do!" She wailed. In turn, Nanami faked a shocked expression.

"Wow, I didn't even realise but I must have somehow seem to have split the books unevenly! Here, you can take these to your last classroom." Nanami handed over the rest of the books in two piles of four. Natsuki smiled in thanks and skipped to the room at the end of the corridor.

As Natsuki disappeared from sight, Nanami sighed with relief. Ever since they were young, herself and Minato had been looking after Natsuki; whether it be steering her away from the wrong crowds of people, or what Nanami had just done, ensuring that Natsuki wouldn't hurt herself by carrying too many books. To Nanami, it seemed rather silly when she really thought it through - they were protecting someone the same age as them as though she were a child. However, they still did it, no matter how foolish it was.

_I can't help but want to look after her,_ Nanami thought, staring after the empty space where Natsuki had been stood.  _She's so naïve, especially after everything that happened..._

Nanami abruptly shut off her thoughts with a slap to the head. If looking after Natsuki was illogical, thinking about things that could no longer be changed was just purely imbecilic. After all, Minori Kawaguchi, Natsuki's father, had forbidden them from talking about it. It was for the best.

"Nanacchi?" Nanami jolted her head from its bowed position, taking in the sight of Natsuki's tilted head and concerned expression. "Are you okay? You looked all glum and-" The small girl pulled down the edges of her lips into a frown with her forefingers, in place of a word. Nanami shook her head slowly, assuring her friend that she was fine, and flicked Natsuki's forehead. The girl immediately gasped and defensively put her hands up to shield herself, prompting Nanami to laugh at her strange reaction.

"C'mon, we've taken at least five minutes doing this - I'll never pass my English exam at this rate!" Nanami complained, exaggerating to make Natsuki giggle. Finally, the pair re-entered their classroom and took their seats. From that point until the end of the lesson, Nanami's head was bowed, jotting down notes at super speed whilst Natsuki's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration.

"Break time!" Natsuki jumped from her seat as the bell rang, causing the teacher to chuckle quietly at her impulsive action. Nanami packed away her notebook and pens, watching Natsuki struggle to get her equipment in past several photography-based books, her large camera and several packets of brightly-coloured crayons. Finally, with one last shove, Natsuki's notebook squashed itself between a primary colour crayon packet and a book labelled 'Portrait Photographs with the Xylon XV PRO'.

"Club room?" Nanami asked, sidling up to her friend's desk. The other girl nodded affirmatively and they set off, shimmying through the sea of students in the corridors before finally making it to the Photography Club. 

Once they'd opened the door, they saw Ryota despairingly draped over a line of three plastic chairs, Yusei sat bolt upright with a bored expression, despite the tray of liquid he had on top of his head, secured with duct tape around his chin like some form of bonnet, and Minato sat on a chair holding a clipboard and pen, nodding his head slowly like their school counsellor did when talking to a student whose problems she had no idea how to deal with.

"Natsu, it's official," Nanami stated, voice monotone. "We cannot leave these losers alone."

"Nana-san, it's mean to call people losers, especially when one is in such a fragile state," Minato scolded and, as if on cue, Ryota let out a long groan of misery. "There, there, Ryo. You can get through this!" Nanami snickered, strolling to the back of the room and perching on the counter behind where Minato sat. Smiling at Minato, Natsuki skipped over and sat beside the blue-haired boy, leaning over to peer at his clipboard. Minato promptly flushed crimson, realising that he had subconsciously written Marilyn Monroe quotes all over his paper. In turn, Natsuki just giggled.

"So, putting off the fact that Ryo-kun is obviously going through the end of the world, Yu-kun..." Nanami trailed off, her features contorting into plain confusion while she waved her hands around, almost as though doing so would give her an answer to exactly what her friend was doing. In reply, Yusei nodded his head slightly, only just avoiding spilling the liquid from the tray.

"Well, Nana-san, I assume that you are confused as to why I have this tray on my head," Yusei started slowly. Nanami nodded, still puzzled. "If I am honest, I too am rather perplexed as to how I ended up in this  _exact_ position," All the students in the room promptly sighed, now unsurprised that their strange friend had managed to get himself into such a situation without prior knowledge. "However, I do know that I was doing something for the Ar-" He was cut off by the door slamming open, a boy whom they all recognised to be the leader of the Art Club standing on the threshold, panting heavily and appearing distressed.

"O-Oshiro-kun," Yusei turned around at the mention of his name, seemingly unaware of the flustered state that the other boy was in. "The-The tray..." The boy struggled to catch his breath, leaning heavily on the doorframe. "There's a... There's a hole..." As the rest of the room simply looked on in bafflement, even Ryota glancing up from his gloomy chair-lair to express his puzzlement, Nanami emitted a low groan of dark realisation.

"There's a hole in the tray," She announced, slowly getting down from the counter and trudged over to Yusei. Sure enough, when she stood behind him, Nanami saw a long, thin trail of strangely-coloured water stretching from where Yusei's white shirt met the chair, and the top of his neck, dripping off a strand of his dark hair. "Agh, Yu-kun, this'll never come out! What were you  _thinking?!"_ From across the room, a small snigger could be heard from Ryota.

"This just in: Nanami-san's a clean freak!" Ryota's shoulders shuddered with laughter at his own joke. Meanwhile Nanami glared, swiftly removing her right shoe and flinging it at his head.

"Can it, Gloom Fest!" Nanami rebuked, before turning back to Yusei's problem. "Well, I guess we'll just have to fetch you a random shirt for the rest of the day because, believe me, this stuff does  _not_ wash out," She turned to the Art Club leader. "Tie dye, right?" The boy nodded. After taking a second to fully catch his breath and straighten his posture, the leader moved over to Yusei, placing a hand on the tape around the boy's face.

"Why did you tape it to yourself?"

"Efficiency."

"Of course," The leader breathed out, giving up hope on understanding the boy. "Okay, Oshiro-kun, this is going to hurt a little bit." He began slowly peeling the tape away from Yusei's face and the whole club's faces contorted, as though they were feeling the pain themselves. Yusei, however, remained emotionless. "Uh, you," The boy turned to face Nanami. "What's your name and year?" 

"Nanami Hayashi, second year," She replied, slightly confused. The boy nodded, turning back to concentrating on Yusei.

"Hiromichi Asai, third year." Natsuki, who had been previously playing a game of hangman with Minato on the paper on his clipboard, jolted upright, nervously whispering  _"upperclassman, upperclassman, upperclassman,"_ repeatedly, poking Minato with each syllable she spoke. "Hayashi-san, could you please hold onto that tray so it doesn't fall?" Nanami promptly grabbed onto it tightly, careful not to make it tip. Hiromichi continued to tear away the tape, wincing as he got to Yusei's hair.

"Try holding down his hair as you peel the tape away, Asai-san," Nanami advised, seeing how the older boy was struggling. 

He did so, but muttered, "That's Asai- _senpai_ to you." Nanami raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'm the one with the water here - I'll call you whatever I want." As though to prove her point, Nanami gently rocked the tray, aware that, in his exact position, Hiromichi would be hit with the water instead of Yusei. Hiromichi narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the threat, clearly not impressed, but not willing to push it, sensing the danger in Nanami's eyes. When it came down to it, Nanami did  _not_ have a lot of patience, and that fact was so well-known around school that even the  _delinquents_ didn't want to get on her bad side.

Soon enough, the tape was fully removed from Yusei's head, as was the tray.

"How are you feeling now, Yu-kun?" Nanami placed her hands on the boy's shoulders and bent down so that she could see his face. Yusei seemed to deliberate it for a moment or two, but then came to an answer.

"I feel lighter," He declared, nudging his large glasses onto the bridge of his nose. The club all broke into laughter at that, whilst Hiromichi just sighed.

"Thank you for holding onto this for me, I suppose, Oshiro-kun." The upperclassman nodded to Yusei, moving to walk out of the room.

"Yo, wait, Asai-san!" Nanami called out to him before he could leave. Hiromichi turned around, wearing an irritated expression.

"Asai- _senpai,_ and  _I_ have the water now, so don't even try threatening me again!" Nanami's uninterested face quickly turned to one of ice-like fury, and it took less than a heartbeat for her to whip off her left shoe, holding it up menacingly.

_"Try me!"_ She growled, causing Hiromichi to yelp, before coughing in an attempt to disguise it. 

"Fine, what is it that you want?" Hiromichi asked, giving in. Nanami put her shoe back onto her foot, pulling up a chair next to Yusei and resting her legs on his lap. Only after she was comfortable did she reply.

"First of all, what did you need Yu-kun for?" Nanami questioned, folding her arms over her chest with a bored expression on her features. Hiromichi rolled his eyes at the disrespect.

"A member of our club left yesterday, claiming that we were 'of no use to her' or something like that," He explained, again attempting to walk out the door.

"Not so fast, Artsy," Nanami halted his actions with a sharp tone. "Before you leave, I have to request that you no longer use our club members for favours, since we are extremely busy with our  _own_ club activities." Hiromichi surveyed the other three club members in the room; Ryota lay gloomily on the chairs; Natsuki with her face buried in Minato's shoulder, afraid of incurring the wrath of an upperclassman; and Minato, who was trying to figure out Marilyn Monroe's exact date of birth, using various methods of calculation. When he was satisfied with his observation, Hiromichi turned back to Nanami, eyebrow raised patronisingly.

_"Clearly,"_ He said, amused, before leaving the room for good. Nanami ground her teeth in annoyance, lifting her left shoe from her foot and throwing it at the empty space where the upperclassman had been stood.

However, it turned into a not-so-empty space, when a girl with black hair and pale skin walked straight into the shoe's path. It hit her face with a loud thump. 

The room went silent. Every member's eyes immediately went wide with horror, even Yusei's. In the doorway, the girl's eyes were closed, her face portraying no emotion. At least a minute of hush went by before she finally opened her eyes, offered a smile and said,

"I'm here to join the Photography Club."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry this chapter took ages, but WOW I got major writer's block, so I really apologise for that. Also, thank you to the people that voted, commented and added this story to their reading list! Constructive criticism is welcome, so don't be afraid to give me any, whether it be in the comments or in a private message.
> 
> Just saying, I know that it annoys people when writers add in author's notes within the chapter because it breaks immersion, so let's just appreciate my willpower when it came to that part with the cupboard under the stairs, because you can bet that my Harry Potter senses were tingling.
> 
> Also, last chapter I realised that I didn't explicitly say it, but the students did change from their indoor to their outdoor shoes at the end of the day. Also, I know that in the official Yandere Sim schedule, there are only like two classes, but I just added in some so that it's quite different. The school day in this story goes:
> 
> -Time before school
> 
> -Two classes
> 
> -Break
> 
> -One class
> 
> -Lunch
> 
> -Either two classes, one class and free period, or two free periods, depending on the day
> 
> -End of school
> 
> Anyways, same as in last chapter, the club is full of dorks and my foreshadowing is mega. What can I say?
> 
> Until next time, friendinos!

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of The Photography Club! I apologise if anything was confusing, especially with the way I punctuated it when it came to the letters and the thoughts. If there's anything you are confused about, please tell me and I'll explain it to you the best that I can!
> 
> Since, we all know how Yandere Simulator goes, writing this chapter just made me so sad! Like, I'm going to strip all of this nice, happy, comedic stuff away from these poor children! I feel awful! 
> 
> Aside from that, here's a note from my dog, who decided it would be fun to walk all over my keyboard: vnb cv cvnbhgxdcvgh n bn.
> 
> Before I go, I just want to say to any future readers that this was written on the 29th of February 2015, so all the character's names, traits, and most of their appearance were just things I, myself, thought up. The appearances were just how I deciphered the silhouettes that were shown in Yandere Dev's video.
> 
> All credit for Yandere Simulator obviously goes to Yandere Dev. Also, there shouldn't be too many of these Author's Notes in future chapters, so don't worry about my rambling. 
> 
> Anyways, I'll be going now. I hope you enjoy this chapter and all future chapters of The Photography Club. Byeee!


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